At Macworld, Spotlight Falls on Smaller Companies

Apple chose not to exhibit at the Macworld 2010 Conference and Expo, which wraps up Saturday in San Francisco, and as a result the show certainly has a different vibe — but I'm having a hard time putting my finger on just what that vibe is. On one hand, this Macworld doesn't hum with the excitement of marquee new products, which Apple has delivered in past years. There was no big Steve Jobs keynote, and Apple's giant booth isn't here to dwarf all of the other companies' booths. In fact, of the big companies that cater to the Mac, only Microsoft has a presence here, showing off a preview  of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac.

As a result, the smaller companies that encompass the Macintosh and iPhone ecosystem are getting more attention. Here are some products and trends that caught my eye this year.

iTouch gloves. We may not get the kind of severe winter weather that buried the East Coast this week, but Seattle can still be uncomfortably cold. Several companies were demonstrating gloves that let you operate an iPhone or iPod touch without removing them. iTouch Gloves (www.itouchgloves.com) were by far the best, employing a proprietary "capacitive leather" material that works with the devices' touch screen and not resorting to using capacitive touch pads at the fingertips, like the other companies' gloves. The fashionable iTouch gloves cost between $99 and $195, depending on style.

Aperture 3. OK, Apple wasn't completely invisible this week, even if it wasn't present. On Tuesday the company released Aperture 3 (www.apple.com/aperture/), a significant update to the professional photo application. In addition to gaining new improvements such as the Faces and Places features found in iPhoto and adjustment brushes for editing areas of an image, Aperture 3 now supports video files in photo libraries and boasts an interface that makes it more appealing to people looking to transition from iPhoto. Aperture 3 is available now for $199 new, or $99 as an upgrade from a previous version; a free 30-day trial is also available as a download.

BusyCal. This calendar software from BusyMac (www.busymac.com) was introduced at last year's Macworld Expo and released several months later, but the company's booth was busy this year with people who are fed up with, or just tired of, Apple's built-in iCal program. BusyCal uses the same core data as iCal for basic event information and accesses it with an improved user interface.

The key selling point, however, is BusyCal's capability to share calendars among computers on a network or over the Internet using Google Calendar. My wife and I use BusyCal to track our individual schedules, as well as share a calendar devoted to our daughter's activities that we can both edit independently. BusyCal costs $49 for a single user license, or $79 for a family pack.

iPad cases. With Apple out of the picture, there were no iPads to be ogled, but a few companies, including Targus, were showing off prototype cases for the new tablet device. As with the market for iPhone and iPod cases, all sorts of materials and designs are going to be available when the iPad ships in March.

Doxie. Recently someone asked me, "Aren't we in that paperless future yet?" (I told him I'd fax him the answer.) The Doxie personal scanner (www.getdoxie.com) aims to get us a few steps closer to that ideal. The diminutive sheet-fed scanner can digitize documents and photos, but it's the software that makes Doxie appealing.

You can add photos to iPhoto or upload them to photo-sharing sites like Flickr; documents can be stored on your hard drive or automatically added to personal data services such as Evernote or Google Docs. Doxie is available for pre-order at $129, and will be available in late March.